AVON — Suddenly the Lake Erie Crushers’ bats have come to life.
On July 23, the Crushers followed up their seven-run outburst the night before with another seven-run eruption to defeat Frontier (18-40), 7-2.
“It was nice to see the offense showing some life,” Manager Chris Mongiardo said. “It would have been nice to get that kind of performance the opening game of the series (which Frontier won, 6-3), but we’ll take the runs.”
The game may have ended with Lake Erie winning, but things didn’t start off quite the way the Crushers had planned. The Greys’ Jon Dziomba led off the game with a double off Crushers starter Zach Gordon. Three batters later, Chris Ellison’s double drove Dziomba home to give Frontier a 1-0 lead.
For the first three innings, Frontier starter Brandon Rohde silenced the Crushers’ bats, not giving up a hit against the first eight Lake Erie batters he faced and walking just one.
Everything changed when Lake Erie shortstop Juan Sanchez came to bat in the bottom of the third, with two outs, and crushed a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall to tie the game at one.
After that, the Lake Erie bats came alive.
“We were a little dead at the beginning, but we got a big home run from (Sanchez),” Mongiardo said.

“That basically kicks us off and lit a fire under us. After that, we really started hitting.”
The Crushers added two more in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take a commanding 6-2 lead. They added another in the eighth to cap the scoring on the day.
The home run was huge for Sanchez, as it was his first home run of the season.
“I’m not a big guy for hitting homers, but today was the day,” Sanchez said. “I never give up, and finally got my first one. Hopefully, I can keep it going.
“I’m feeling really good right now. When I hit it, everyone was saying, ‘Oh my God! You got your first one.’”
In addition to Sanchez’s heroics, Andrew Davis went 2-for-3 and scored two runs, Craig Hertler added a two-run double, and Vincent Meija went 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Mongiardo feels that Davis may finally be finding his swing after coming off the DL to start the season.
“When the game is on the line, (Davis) is going to be there all the time,” he said. “His at-bats looked a lot better today. In his first at-bat, it looked like he had his legs underneath him, and it looks like he’s starting to feel better out there.”
The Crushers could certainly use a healthy Davis, as they make their push toward the postseason. Lake Erie is currently tied for the sixth, and final, playoff spot with Schaumburg with a 31-26 record.
Sanchez believes the team is coming alive at just the right time.
“Right now, we’re feeling really good,” he said. “We’re thinking about going to the playoffs. We’ll have to do the same thing we did last year, go to the playoffs. Everyone is thinking that way right now.”
Last year, the Crushers found themselves in a similar situation, playing around .500 baseball, made the playoffs and made it all the way to the Frontier League championship series.